A day after the AIADMK MPs submitted a memorandum to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking permission for cooperative banks in Tamil Nadu to accept deposits on par with commercial banks and also the demonetised currency notes of `500 and `1,000 denominations, leaders of various farmers’ unions allege that the primary agricultural cooperative societies and cooperative banks in the State are money laundering centres.
“These banks do not function as per the norms prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India. The fact is that cooperative banks in Tamil Nadu are controlled by the AIADMK and have become defunct,” said Kattumannarkoil Kannan, leader of Kissan Morcha and secretary of Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Union. He said the AIADMK memorandum submitted on Wednesday was too little and too late an action to save the Tamil Nadu farmers. “Most of the loans have been disbursed with by nationalised banks itself. The AIADMK has said that farmers are struggling to purchase seeds. The seeds have been purchased in September itself,” he pointed out.
Arpathi Kalynam, secretary, Farmers Association of Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur said the cooperative sector in the State has become a battle field for the the Dravidian majors as the interests of the farmers are ignored. “Unless these cooperative banks are run like the nationalised banks as per the regulations and guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India, the cooperative banks are of no use to the farmers,” said Kalyanam.
According to Kannan, no agricultural loans are pending with banks in Tamil Nadu as all loans have been disbursed before the commencement of the farming season. He said the crisis mentioned by the AIADMK in their memorandum is their personal issue. “They have to get the unaccounted money exchanged and they are misusing the farming community for the same.” He charged.
RV Giri, president, Consortium of India Farmers Associations (CIFA) said the cooperative department in Tamil Nadu was in the forefront to oppose the recommendations made by the Vaidyanathan Committee, a committee appointed by the Union Government to reform the cooperative sector. “It is too late to ask the union finance ministry for some favours to the cooperative sector,” said Giri.
In Tamil Nadu, both the AIADMK and its rivals the DMK are opposing the demonetisation of the high value currencies by the Centre.